Hunt was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage in October 2004. In January 2007 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Following the 2007 election, Hunt was appointed Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water.[7] After the 2010 election, he was re-appointed to the Shadow Ministry as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage.[8]

After the 2013 election, Hunt was appointed Minister for the Environment under Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 18 September 2013.[9]

On 19 September, one of his first actions as Minister for the Environment was to ring Tim Flannery, the head of the Climate Commission, to announce the closure of the scientific advisory body.[10]

"Australia has since European settlement and obviously well before that, had a history of recurrent bushfires. I looked up what Wikipedia says, for example, just to see what the rest of the world thought, and it opens up with the fact that bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year. Large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires. That’s the Australian experience."[14][15][16]

^"The Hon Greg Hunt MP". Ministerial appointments Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage from 26.10.04 to 30.1.07. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 30.1.07 to 3.12.07. Minister for the Environment from 18.9.13. Australian Government. Retrieved 14 February 2014.

^Han, Esther; Judith Ireland (24 October 2013). "Greg Hunt uses Wikipedia research to dismiss links between climate change and bushfires". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Environment Minister Greg Hunt has hosed down suggestions of a link between climate change and increased bushfire intensity, saying he had looked up what Wikipedia said and it was clear that bushfires in Australia were frequent events that had occurred during hotter months since before European settlement.